Rev. Leuchtenberger is our senior minister. Read more.
Talking about taboos, breaking taboos, ignoring taboos seems like fun for some and is abhorrent to others. Context clearly matters. How do we create safe(-enough) spaces to talk about taboos? How do we create safe(-enough) spaces to talk about what taboos to talk about – or not talk about? What process has worked for you? … Continue reading Let’s Talk About That (or Not) – To Be Revealed
Human touch and being at ease with our bodies are fundamental to what most of us desire to feel connected and whole. Yet the horrific abuses associated with unwanted touch have torn the healing, welcoming, playful, love-expressing qualities and powers of touch from our cultural toolkit of connection. And the unrealistic, commercialized, stereotyped images of … Continue reading Touchy Subjects
In “The Soul of Sex” Thomas Moore refers to ‘lovemaking as the ritual that invites the goddess of sex to be present.’ Yet he acknowledges that ‘in our society sex is wounded by a deep-seated masochism, which finds distorted satisfaction in the suppression of desire.’ Organized religion hasn’t always been helpful as we embrace sex … Continue reading Sex
Cultural no-nos help to avoid chaos and harm. Taboos create group identity and cohesion. Social prohibitions reinforce power relationships. And the things we are not talking about often relate to our most intimate and sacred experiences. The power and potential of psychedelics to have “mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance” … Continue reading Let’s Not Talk About That
There is a level of diversity that we experience as threatening – consciously or unconsciously. The tipping point varies between individuals and cultures. Acknowledging that tipping point can be difficult for religious liberals. Empathy for the reality of our own limitations is an important first step while cultivating empathy for others helps us shift the … Continue reading The Path of Empathy
“Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism” is the subtitle of Robin DiAngelo’s groundbreaking book titled “White Fragility.” As Michael Eric Dyson writes in the foreword: “DiAngelo brilliantly names a whiteness that doesn’t want to be named, disrobes a whiteness that dresses in camouflage as humanity, unmasks a whiteness costumed as … Continue reading White Fragility
As progressives, UUs tend to celebrate the idea of diversity and the importance of being welcoming to all – whether in our churches or society at large. Religious liberals are turned off by the rhetoric of “building walls” yet ignore the reality that we all need “walls” that keep us safe, create a sense of … Continue reading The Walls We Build
Humans, as all life forms, depend on diversity for their evolution, their resilience, their survival. We also excel at identifying patterns of difference among us despite the overwhelming similarities that unite us. And somehow our pattern recognition favors framing those differences in binary terms despite the underlying continuums. How do we let go of our … Continue reading Embracing Fluidity
On May 19, 1841, Theodore Parker delivered one of the most famous sermons of the Unitarian tradition “The Transient and Permanent in Christianity.” His sermon proclaimed that even if Jesus had never lived the core insights of Christianity would still be true. Not having Jesus as a teacher or an authority on the truth is … Continue reading The Transient & Permanent
The existence and evolution of life is a function of the impermanent nature of all that is. Similarly, an awareness and embrace of the impermanence of all aspects of our lives and the lives around us is essential to the quality of our life experience. Understanding that all pleasant as well as unpleasant experiences are … Continue reading In Praise of Impermanence
